A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT

Wednesday, April 15th at 7:34

Kevin

Ah, it feels so good to just sit here in Pokhara and rest our weary bodies. But not for long. Pokhara is a great little town located in the western half of Nepal. It is Nepal's second largest city which sprawls across a valley with lake Fewa Tal as its central highlight. The area of Lakeside, where we stayed, is divided into three parts, north, central and damn side. Each area has its own unique characteristics, north is quiet and peaceful, central is bustling and damn side is the older original tourist settlement. All three areas are rife with trekking shops, Tibetan craft stores, book stores and every kind of restaurant or cafe imaginable. A great place to use as a base for whatever outdoor activities you plan on undertaking. For us, the next would be a three day white water rafting trip along the Kali Gandaki River.

After three days of rest Lakeside, our adventure began. We met in front of the Busy Bee bar and restaurant at 8:00am to catch our bus to the starting point. There were a total of twenty-three people on the bus: fourteen rafters, six of which we had met at the previous night's orientation meeting, two safety kayakers, two boat leaders, two supply boat tenders, one trip leader, one bus driver and his conductor. It was about a three hour drive to the starting point. Along the way, we were briefly stuck in traffic as some locals worked to dismantle a portion of the road's swale to allow vehicles to pass alongside a truck who had lost its wheel and was stranded straddling the single track lane. As we sat in the bus peering at the small village through our open window, a very familiar site came into our view. It happened to be our friend Jordi that we met while attending the Tushita Buddhism course in McLeod Ganj. Imagine our surprise running into her in the most remote of places. It was great to see her, even if for only a few minutes.

We finally arrived at the starting point, helped to unload and set up the gear, had a quick lunch and we were off. Our boat consisted of seven people total. It included Idalis and I, our new friends Amber, Darren, Louis and Ollie, from the UK, and our boat leader Hiro. We began by practicing the various commands that would be enthusiastically called out, or sometimes sung, by our boat leader and included, “forward ho”, “left back”, “right back”, “all back”, “over right”, “over left”, “stop” and most importantly, “hold on!” It wasn't soon after that when we began to negotiate the rapids. First was “little brother”, which we had to walk alongside as the crew determined it to be too unsafe due to the lower water levels. However, shortly after that was “big brother”, which was an introduction to the cold and refreshing waters of the Kali Gandaki River.

We would paddle about three and one half hours the first day before landing on a secluded beach alongside the river. We would set up camp and do some exploring to find a small improvised Hindu shrine, loaded with cannabis plants, which was said to be the home of a lone sadhu, who happened to not be there at the time. We would enjoy a dinner prepared by the crew and then sit around under the lean to and learn about the rest of the people on the trip while it rained outside. The next morning, it was back in the boats and on for another three or so hours of rafting. A stop for lunch at another secluded beach and then another three or so hours of rafting to our camp site for the evening. This day of rafting was action packed and included more than twenty different rapids, several cold plunges, getting stuck on a few rocks, one man overboard and me straddling the inflated pontoon holding on for dear life. Once again, we would set up camp, enjoy a dinner provided by the crew, only this time, we would have access to a full bar provided by the local village people. Once again, we would all gather around in the lean to shelter and enjoy each others company as it rained outside. Eventually, this led into a few members of the crew joining us and bringing an empty supply drum that would be used to improvise beats that would accompany our singing of traditional Nepali songs, most of which dealt with either love or raging rivers, and ultimately a traditional dance around the fire. Afterwards, and quite late, we would all retire and awake to finish our three day paddle the following morning.

The last day of rafting saw us through about five more sets of rapids and then a paddle across a serene lake, which had been created by a damn, compliments of the Nepali government. It was at this point that all hell broke loose and everyone began to attempt to flip each others boats and ensure that everyone got wet, with the exception of Idalis, who feigned a chest infection to be spared from the perils of cold water. We would eventually reach the take out point, pack up and load all the gear and enjoy one last meal provided by the crew. Our bus ride back to Pokhara took about five hours this time and dropped us off in the exact same spot. As it would turn out, most of the people on the rafting trip would not have accommodations, so we invited them all to come and check into where we were staying, the Lubbly Jubbly Guesthouse. That evening we would reunite for the official post rafting dinner and would enjoy food, spirits, live music, a few rounds of pool and the company of our new friends, Geske, Anders, Louise and Gelt, from Denmark, our boat mates, Darren, Amber, Louis and Ollie, Andy and Jake, all from the UK, our team leader, Ram, and our safety kayakers, Heidi and Ashok. We would enjoy the company of our raft mates so much, that we would once again join them for dinner the following evening, which would also happen to be our last night in Pokhara. Thanks to all of you for such an enjoyable and memorable experience!